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Blue Jackets Re-Sign Center Derek MacKenzie To A Two-Year Contract

by
Blue Jackets Staff
/ Columbus Blue Jackets

COLUMBUS, OHIO – The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed center Derek MacKenzie to a two-year contract, club Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Scott Howson announced today. As is club policy, terms were not disclosed.

MacKenzie, 30, has registered 19 goals and 26 assists for 45 points with 92 penalty minutes and a +18 plus/minus rating in 193 career NHL games with the Blue Jackets and Atlanta Thrashers. Since joining the Blue Jackets organization prior to the 2007-08 season, he has collected 19-24-43, 72 penalty minutes and is +18 in 165 games with the club.

“We are very pleased to have re-signed Derek as he is a versatile and reliable player with a tremendous work ethic who brings energy to our team,” said Howson.

MacKenzie tallied 7-7-14 and 40 penalty minutes in a career-high 66 games with the Blue Jackets last season and led the club with a +4 plus/minus rating and two shorthanded goals (tied with Rick Nash). In 2010-11, he set career highs in goals, assists, points and plus/minus rating when he collected 9-14-23 with a +14 plus/minus rating in 63 games. His plus/minus rating was the third-highest in club history and the highest by a Blue Jackets forward, breaking the previous mark of +12 set by David Vyborny in 2002-03.

Atlanta’s sixth pick, 128th overall, in the 1999 Entry Draft, MacKenzie spent six years in the Thrashers organization with the NHL club and the Chicago Wolves, its American Hockey League affiliate. He helped Chicago capture the 2002 Calder Cup championship and earn a trip to the 2005 Calder Cup Final. He split his first three seasons as a Blue Jacket between Columbus and the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch. In 550 career AHL games, he registered 147-185-332, 567 penalty minutes and was +40.

The Sudbury, Ontario native played four seasons with the Ontario Hockey League’s Sudbury Wolves from 1997-2001, registering 95-158-253 and 299 penalty minutes in 257 games. In his final season, he ranked sixth in the OHL in scoring with 40-49-89 to go along with 89 penalty minutes and a +25 plus/minus rating. He also represented Canada at the 2001 World Junior Championships, collecting 1-2-3 in seven games and winning a bronze medal.